Ruff Love
by PurpleHeroBanjo
Summary: While buttercup is spending time with her friend, she comes across a now down on his luck brick, and decides to help him. What will happen between the two? Contains brick x buttercup Brickercup
1. Time with a friend

The City of Townsville. It was a normal day as any other, raining heavily over the town. It had been a calm day so far aside from the bad weather. At Pokey Oak's Kindergarten, the students were stuck inside spending recess inside today. "Really, Mitch?" one girl had to ask while she was talking with one of her friends. Her short raven black hair reached to her shoulders, and she was wearing a green dress that had a black skull tilted on it. She was talking with a good friend of hers that was somewhat considered a bully to the rest of the kindergarten. "You just have to see it, BC! I swear, it is the most entertaining thing I have ever seen!" Mitch started seeming to just be more eager the more he thought or discussed it. "My dad took me there for my birthday. They have two guys fight in a small ring with dogs on chains around them. If they get knocked into them they get mauled!" he explained what the event was he had witnessed just a week ago.

"I need to go see this…" Buttercup was mentally telling herself with a smile. She had to see this for herself. It sounded pretty cool, but in the end did sound like a glorified fight ring. "I'll take you there when we get out of school. How's it sound?" Mitch offered her. He had a bit of a crush on her, something that she was pretty aware of, but didn't want to be the one to make the first move. "Sure! I can just say I'm going to Tracy's tonight to help with homework or something," she gladly accepted, knowing how easy it was to deceive their father, mainly because he trusted his children and respected their privacy. They then heard a bell ring, and every student's attention was drawn back to their teacher. It was time to get back class for the last few hours of their school day.

Buttercup had went through class as normal as any other day, though once everything was done and she was gathering her backpack together, she looked over to her sisters who were doing the same. "Hey, Blossom. Would you mind carrying my backpack home?" Buttercup requested to the girl in a pink dress that had a pattern of multiple black lines going over both of her shoulders and around her sides. She also had a red ribbon tied in her long orange hair. She was considered the glorified leader of the trio. "Where are you going?" Blossom asked back, knowing whenever she asked this she was going to be late for dinner for sure, and she didn't like to cover for her tough sibling if she was up to no good.

"Going to hang out at Tracy's for the night," Buttercup lied. Blossom just nodded, taking her sister's backpack for her. "Alright. I'll let the professor know," Blossom reassured before walking away with their other sibling to go home, already wanting to just fly through the bad weather. "Are you ready to go?" Buttercup heard, looking over her shoulder to see Mitch with an excited look on his face. He was looking forward to spending time with her. "You know it!" she was eager to see this for herself. When the two were outside, Buttercup proceeded to pick Mitch up before flying off, leaving a green streak of light behind. He did find it embarrassing to be carried like this, but the euphoria that came from being so high in the sky going at an incredibly fast speed was more than worth it.

The two found themselves flying over the eastern part of Townsville. It was more of a rundown shopping district, where most of the stores had been forced to close down as result of a big market that had opened up nearby. "It's down there," Mitch pointed out to one building specifically that looked to have boards covering the broken windows, clearly a poor job at repairs. Buttercup slowly lowered them to the ground, letting him out of her grasp. Mitch pulled out the umbrella he had been carrying and opened it up to cover the two of them while the rain continued to fall around them. He led her into the alley on the side of the store where they arrived to a metal door.

"My dad comes here a lot, so I'm kind of known to the people. They should be fine with letting us in," Mitch explained before knocking on the door, seeing a small slit on the door open. "Password?" asked a voice from the other side of the door. "The dog howls at the sun," he answered. The door opened up for them. Buttercup thought the passcode to get inside made no sense, but she didn't care. Upon entering, they could see the inside of a secret club, where people scattered, doing various tasks while music was blaring. They saw a big group of people gathered around something.

Buttercup went and forced her way through the crowd to see what was getting their attention, and that was when she saw a small pit surrounded by chain link fences. Two men were punching and whaling on each other, while there were five links of chains going into the floor that were attached to dogs that were surrounding the two fighters. All of the canines barked, desperately trying to bite either one of the fighters. "Wow… that is intense," Buttercup had to comment, knowing one step back would result in a dog bite. "I told ya it was cool," Mitch smirked in pride, hoping they could enjoy watching this for a short time. Normally, Buttercup would protect people in danger like this, but if they were literally entering on their own free will, it felt like a waste of energy and time to just play hero on them and end up messing up the fun in the process.

Buttercup spent the better of two hours watching multiple people enter and exit the fight ring. Someone was controlling the chains the dogs were on, and he could pull them back or let them get closer on the simple pull of a lever. While Buttercup was watching, something caught her eye. Someone else entered, carrying a big bag on his shoulder. He didn't look any taller than she did, either. "Hey, uh, Mitch. I'll be right back," she told her friend before getting up and following the vague figure she had seen, mainly out of some worry in the back of her mind that was making her feel compelled to at least know who it was.

Buttercup had followed the person down a flight of steps that led to a weird underground area that looked hand built instead of constructed. She saw a single door ahead and hesitantly entered inside, only to then see entire walls of kennels. Each small cage housed a different type of hostile and threatening dog. She was somewhat startled by it, but was relieved to know that they were locked away in their individual kennel. She then saw the familiar person holding a dog bowl. "Hey, you!" Buttercup got the attention of that person. A gulp was heard by her. "Buttercup?" the person responded. She recognized the voice, reaching over and switching on the light from a nearby switch. "Brick?" she groaned, seeing a boy in a red cap with long orange hair. He was wearing a red vest that had random black stars pattern on it, and he also had a bandage on his cheek.

"I didn't think you came here," the boy commented. He was one of a somewhat infamous evil group of triplets known as the Rowdyruff Boys, basically the counterparts of Buttercup and her sisters. "A friend invited me. My question is what you're doing here," Buttercup replied, remembering how the boy and his brothers had randomly vanished after their last encounter to go into hiding, mainly after one of their technical fathers, HIM, had been killed by the Powerpuff Girls. "Working. I take care of the dogs," Brick answered, appearing to want to avoid a fight. His red eyes certainly didn't seem to show the same hostility she had seen a lot in the past.

Brick opened the nearby cell bars, watching a somewhat overweight dog come out slowly. The medium sized Rottweiler growled at the young boy until he slid over a bowl of kibble for the dog. It just refocused its attention on beginning to eat. "There you go, girl. I hope it's tasty for you," he happily said while petting the back of the dog's head. "What's wrong with her?" Buttercup questioned, finding the dog a bit obese. "Nothin'. She's just about to have puppies," he claimed. She had to admit the dogs around here seemed a lot nicer than they were in the cage matches. "You put her and other dogs in cage matches like this? Even if she's pregnant?" the green Powerpuff had to ask in a slight disbelieving rage, at even the thought of this. "What? Nah. That's just an act, too. Buttercup, I'm not always doing evil things, you know. The dogs used up there have no teeth. In fact, most of these dogs are found abandoned. We're just taking care of them, basically," Brick responded, starting to get sick of the practical interrogation. It was really getting on his nerves, but he knew better than to start a fight here.

Buttercup just went silent. As much as she didn't want to be defeated in this specific argument, he was right about the whole constantly being evil thing, since the last encounter, the Rowdyruffs had learnt the hard way that causing crime without planning didn't go well that often. "So uh… how's Mojo been?" she flipped to another subject, coming over to see the Rottweiler who looked at her, it's ears sticking up as its tail waggling. "Go ahead. You can pet her if ya want," he claimed. Buttercup just accepted the invite and gingerly stroked the dogs back, seeing its tail wag more, happily. "And as for dad… well, he threw us out. He said he didn't want to keep raising failures," Brick explained what was going on with their technical father. They had failed so many times at anything they tried. Thus he decided to stop caring for them.

"Oh. S-sorry…" Buttercup could only feel remorse not even able to imagine how to feel if the professor did something like that to her. "Eh. It's not as bad. We moved into an apartment through some threats. This job pays decent," he claimed while putting the dog back in her kennel before closing the door. He just wrote down the time to keep up when the dog was last fed and hung it up. "I'm thinking of maybe making this my new hang out place. Maybe I could help sometime?" Buttercup suggested. The red capped boy quirked an eyebrow. He would get some piety, but he didn't think he was about to be getting any help from her out of the trio. "Yeah. That'd be nice…" he smirked, more than appreciative. He reached out and shook her hand, glad she was going to help him take care of the many dogs. After all, it did get tiring after a while.

The two were oblivious, though. Mitch watched from a top the stairs, having come to check on Buttercup when she never came back to view the fight. He just stared somewhat angrily at Brick before leaving the room to pretend like he had seen nothing, so his friend wouldn't get suspicious.

**Authors note: I don't know whether or not to continue this, but I hope you like it.**


	2. Helping out

Four days had passed since Buttercup had last seen Brick. She was sitting in class, wondering to herself if she would really do what she had said last time where she claimed to be willing to assist in taking care of animals with Brick. She pondered if she had done that just out of a remorseful feeling or not. She had been sitting through most of the school day just fine, until suddenly she felt someone grab her shoulder, snapping her out of her thought trance. "Huh? Oh, hey Bubbles," Buttercup greeted, seeing her blonde haired sister who was wearing a blue dress that had black circles on random parts of it. Blossom was right nearby. "Are you okay? You haven't answered any of Miss Keane's questions…" she questioned if she was alright. "And you stayed inside during recess," Blossom added while writing in a notebook.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about something. I have plans with mitch after school, by the way," Buttercup answered, not wanting to worry them. Bubbles just giggled. "Did it finally happen?" she asked. "Did what finally happen?" the girl in green glared. "Everyone thinks you and Mitch are together," Blossom explained, the fact that their sibling had been spacing out so much the near week. She let out a very frustrated groan, just trying not to let it get under her skin, while knowing she had been hanging out with him a lot, including how they left school together to see the weird cage match. They then heard the last bell ring. "I'm not with Mitch. He's a great friend, sure…" she reiterated her thoughts while getting up. "I'll be home later," she sighed, walking away. The other two just presumed she was going to meet up with Mitch like she had just lied to them about, although not knowing it even was a lie.

Brick was sitting around the empty hangout. No one was there at the moment aside from him and at least two other men who were either cleaning fake blood off the cage match floor so they could get ready for the next match, since usually the place got active, and pretty gruesome, at random times of the day. He heard the door open, and he saw Buttercup enter. He was a bit surprised to see her come back. "Hey, BC. What are you doing back here?" Brick requested to know, while Buttercup approached him. He remembered last time where she said her will to make this place her new hangout. "I told you, I'm here to help with the dogs," she reminded him. He still was surprised, thinking she had only said those things last time just to make him feel better.

"Really? Wow… I appreciate it. Hey, come on. I got something to show you," Brick smiled. It was an odd feeling. She had to just see him acting even remotely nice around her, but she suspected the recent events with his father had badly injured his ego. He didn't seem as arrogant or cocky as before, but she presumed that would return with time. She followed him down to the area where the dogs were kept.

Buttercup followed him to one of the small kennel cages. He turned on the light and motioned her over. "She had the puppies three days ago," Brick said. Looking inside, she saw the familiar Rottweiler that was just resting idly with three tiny black furred puppies around it, all of which had black fur and orange muzzles. "…aww…" Buttercup could only stare, seeing the cute animals, thinking her sisters would love to see them, mentally wishing she could show them, but she knew that if they heard Brick and his brothers were in town, there would be trouble.

"This is the first thing I need help with," Brick said, confusing her she watched him open it up and reach inside, picking up one of the puppies gently. "What do you mean?" Buttercup hesitantly asked, watching him as he brushed the pup's head, hearing it whine slightly. "Well, they sure shouldn't be growing up in this tiny place, so I arranged to take all of them to a farm just outside of Townsville," Brick explained while putting the tiny dog back. The mother Rottweiler seemed content with the two. "You've really gotten soft since I last saw you," the raven haired Powerpuff laughed while he picked up the small cage the four dogs were in, rolling his eyes. "Heh. You should see Boomer, then. I'll show you once we finish this," Brick responded while beginning to leave with her.

When Brick and Buttercup exited the club into the alley, they saw her familiar friend. "BC?" Mitch spoke. He was standing there, seeming surprised to see the two. He was pretending in actuality that he had been coming here every day since the last time they came, mainly out of his jealous suspicion he had between the two. The red ruff, still carrying the dog cage, raised an eyebrow, not knowing who the similar aged boy was. "Hey, Mitch," Buttercup greeted her friend happily. "You two going somewhere?" Mitch questioned while seeing them bypass him. "Yeah. I'm going to help him out. See ya later," she gave a wave. Brick recognized the hatred in her fellow classmate's eyes. The two just flew off, leaving behind a dark red and light green streak of light.

While the two flew across Townsville, Brick made sure to keep the dog cage safe so it wouldn't fall out of his grip. "So what were you saying about Boomer?" Buttercup requested to know what he meant by Boomer becoming softer than his practical leader. "He got a job too. He has to wear a disguise, but he isn't half bad at it for what he does," Brick explained. "I'll take you there once we finish this. Thanks again for helping me with this, Buttercup. Honestly, I don't like doing this kind of stuff alone. Flying gets boring when the only thing to hit are birds," he expressed his full gratefulness. Buttercup, not sure how to respond, just tried to enjoy the long flight, having never considered how things would be if she was alone like he was lately by how he described it. The Rowdyruff Boys almost sounded like they were broken up at least in the criminal division.


	3. Relaxing

Buttercup had just finished delivering the dogs with Brick to the farm like he had planned to, and the two were just flying back from the outside of Townsville. "How come he didn't recognize you?" she asked, the red boy doubting that anyone in Townsville didn't know exactly how dangerous the Rowdyruff boys were or how much damage they had caused before. "Just some old farmer. I'd be shocked if he could even remember his wife's name," Brick laughed in response while they flew above head, leaving a green and red streak of light behind them as they were flying back into Townsville.

Brick had led her through Townsville from one side to the other nearly entirely. "Right. Time to show you what Boomer does," Brick said while they were barely a few miles into the eastern part of town. He landed in a nearby alley, Buttercup following suit. Once they landed, Brick took off his hat and grabbed at his hair, putting it up on his head and hiding it under his cap. "What are you doing?" Buttercup raised an eyebrow. It made him look weird to have the different hairstyle that was sticking out from some areas of his hat. "Disguising myself. This town isn't that smart, really," he said. She could only stay almost silent on that. "Won't disagree with that," she sighed, aware of how dumb a lot of the townspeople were. Once he had his hair all tucked away, he began to lead her onto the streets, planning to walk the next few blocks away.

"He works right up here," Brick pointed, Buttercup still keeping her guard up in case this became some kind of weird sneak attack that they had actually thought out. It was more surprising that his disguise of hiding his hair the best he could was working. No one in town recognized him on the streets. They arrived to a small cafe that had various people set up, both outside and inside. She took a seat at one of the outside tables alongside Brick. "I don't see Boomer anywhere," Buttercup commented. "Give him a minute" he waved a hand over to the left.

Buttercup had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing, when she saw a familiar boy their height. He had blonde hair, and he was wearing a blue coat that had black flames on it in random tilted patterns. He was wearing a half apron and glasses, looking unamused. "Yo, Boomer," the boy in red greeted. "Hi, Brick. …and… Buttercup?" he spoke, wondering if he was under arrest and his brother had been apprehended by the Powerpuff. He was Boomer, the not so bright of the trio, who was picked on a lot more by his two brothers because of it. "Wh-what are you doing here?" Boomer hesitantly spoke. "She's with me. It's cool, bro," Brick insisted that it was alright, especially with her around. "Yeah. Long time, no see, Boomer. What's with the glasses?" Buttercup asked. Boomer just sighed. "It's my disguise…" he muttered. Apparently, a pair of glasses was enough to even to throw off any suspicion.

"They look fitting on you. How's Butchie boy been?" Buttercup asked, Brick just pulling out his wallet and giving Boomer some money. "Two of the usuals," Brick said before watching his blue sibling leave to get what he ordered. "Sorry, I don't like to talk about Butch around him. Butch kind of went nuts after dad threw us out. Either he's working or asleep. That's all he does anymore. On his days off he acts like his old self, but y'know… Can't tell if he means it or he's just acting," Brick explained, that their other brother became a mentally broken man since the disownment from their parent.

"And how has Boomer been handling it?" Buttercup saw him scratch his cheek. "Couldn't get him to speak for a week and after I told'em we needed jobs. He was one of the first to get one. Like I said, I really appreciate your help," Brick further explained the condition of his brothers. He had no idea how they were mentally, but it was to the point where he felt guilty to pick on either of them to any level. They lost a lot of their fun, being forced to grow up like this now. Boomer came back, carrying two cups of coffee, giving one to each of them before taking a seat at the table as well.

"So… Buttercup. How have things been?" Boomer requested, wanting to break the awkward silence. "Fine. Just trying to kill time," she stated, the silence taking over again, until Brick, after taking a drink from the coffee, spoke up. "Right. Boomer, she's going to be helping me at work sometimes. Hope it's okay if we come here for breaks every now and then?" Brick described what the two of them had been doing today. The blonde boy shrugged. "More tips for me. So what, does that make her a ruff?" Boomer joked, Buttercup giving him a death glare from her seat that made him go quiet. "…Yeah… I guess so," Brick agreed that she was one if she helped them at all with their current financial struggles.

"Wh-what? Really?" Buttercup felt embarrassed, but she understood. He was appreciative of the help, it felt like a different pair of people she was talking to. Brick nodded in agreement. Buttercup was definitely a ruff to them now. "Well… I doubt Butch will care," Boomer admitted, sighing. The raven haired girl took a sip of the coffee. Upon consuming it, it made her feel relaxed and slightly more energized. "Huh… never knew coffee tasted like that," she smiled, though she could see up the sky that the sun was beginning to set. She had lost track of the last few hours of time. "Ah, jeez! I better get home. I'll see you tomorrow, Brick. Take care," Buttercup spoke before flying off, leaving a green streak of light behind.

"A puff helping us… what did you do to make her do all this?" Boomer requested an explanation, wanting to know just how the leader of the Rowdyruffs kept her from wanting to subdue them. "I told her what happened, that's how. Come on, let's go find Butch," Brick insisted, Boomer pulling off the half apron and resting it on the table before leaving along with his sibling, still hating how he had to walk whenever in his disguise.


	4. Weird attack

Buttercup was currently flying above the city of Townsville, just wanting to get home, and not really paying attention to her flight as much as the thoughts in the back of her mind that were constantly pestering her. She couldn't tell if it was just from being around the Ruffs and having to get used to trusting them, or something telling her she shouldn't, though midway through her travel, she heard a loud roar followed by the sounds of screaming civilians that made her come to a halt in the air. She could see two cars being thrown in the air, the people inside screaming in terror. She quickly flew over and caught one, and then caught the next one on top of it. She lowered to the ground to put the cars back down, and then she focused back on what had thrown the cars, which was an oversized robot that had begun stomping around, threatening to destroy Townsville. It looked like it had been made out of junkyard scrap at best. It had a decayed colour to it, one arm being a lot bigger than the other.

"Sheesh… talk about a downgrade," Buttercup growled, darting at it, leaving a green streak of light behind her. She punched at the back of the left leg, forcing the strange mechanical monster to fall onto one leg, having had one of its own majorly dented. She flew around to the head of it, seeing its gears for eyes. She glared, her eyes glowing red before firing a ray of heat vision that dug into its head. The monster pulled back and smashed her with its big arm, sending her into the side of a building.

Buttercup groaned, watching it pick up a few empty cars that had been abandoned by the panicked civilians before it opened its mouth and ate them whole. The sound of metal crunching just was grating on her ears. Before she realized it, the monster was back on its feet, and its face was recovered like she had not touched it. Its oversized arm threw into her again, smashing a chunk out of the side of the building. Its arm stopped midway in the dust, and Buttercup was standing there, having caught it. She pulled, and ripped its arm out. It was easy, like tearing a sheet of thin paper, that she had to wonder why it hit so hard if it was not assembled that well.

Buttercup raised an eyebrow, the robot falling backwards onto another building like it had ran out of energy. She let its arm go and flew up, looking it over. It had ceased function entirely, though it didn't stop her from smashing its head to make sure the robot stayed broken, unaware of the strange silver dust that was going off the side of it and crawling off the building.

Buttercup only heard the sounds of cheering from the people below, and she saw another two streaks of light approaching. "Buttercup! We're here to help- whoa!" Blossom stopped mid-sentence seeing the already beaten robot. "What is that?" Bubbles questioned. "No clue. It just kinda gave up and let me smash it…" Buttercup shrugged, a bit disappointed by the easy surrender of the robot. "Come on. Let's go home," Blossom insisted, wanting to treat her sister's injuries herself. They flew off to get home after the strange encounter.

Meanwhile, Brick arrived to an apartment complex, his blonde brother beside him. "Who's making dinner tonight?" Boomer asked while taking off his glasses and putting them away in his pocket. "Doesn't look like Butch is home, so looks like you are tonight," the orange haired boy joked. Boomer just sighed and went off to the kitchen to begin cooking. Brick saw the letters on the nearby table, presuming Butch had brought them in before going out again. Their apartment's living room seemed somewhat empty aside, from a coffee table and a big couch that looked like it had been pulled from a junkyard. One of the letters was from an all too familiar name, Mojo Jojo. He just glared at it, and letting his heat vision do the honours of roasting the paper, and turning into a small pile of ash. "What was that?" Boomer called out having heard the sound of the familiar heat vision. "Nothing, just killing a fly!" he called out before hearing the door open.

Brick saw a boy with black hair enter. He was wearing a green coat that had black scythes imprinted on the back. "Hey, Butch- what the...!" he saw his sibling who was standing there. One of his eyes were slightly swollen and his face was quite bruised. Butch was the more aggressive of the three of them. They liked to consider this, but being demoralized from his own father had really made him a lot less hot headed. At that point, it was like he had lost all of his emotions. "You okay dude?" Brick asked, his spiky haired brother stepping in and shutting the door, sighing. "Yes…" he answered, pulling out an envelope and handing it to Brick. Butch just began walking to his room. The envelope was full of money. Brick presumed it was payday, but he didn't normally go flashing it so often.

"How'd you get this?" Brick questioned, not getting a response before hearing the door to his room close. He just sighed, guessing he could at least put the money toward something, though the worries for his brother were starting to get a bit too much for him to handle. He had an idea, however. Maybe his new friend could help him. "Dinners ready!" Boomer called out. Brick just pocketed the money and headed to the kitchen to eat.


	5. Search

At the Utonium household, Buttercup was in her room lying on the bed. A few months ago the family had decided that the trio of sisters needed more room and a bit more privacy. Her room had a small bed with green blankets, a desk with a computer on it nearby, and random posters hung up on the wall, mostly favouring bands. She was rubbing her side, still hurt from fighting that weird huge hunk of junk that just gave up and let her beat it in, until she heard a voice through the door. "Dinner's ready!" her father called out from downstairs. She just wanted to put today behind her, and she flew downstairs into the kitchen to join her family for dinner, seeing her black haired father in a white lab coat who was setting food on the table while her sisters took their seats.

Buttercup just thought about random things, unable to really get Brick off her mind and his current situation. She still had her worries if they were just trying to trick her, but so far she hadn't seen any mean glares, or any threatening appearances from the ruff boys. That was the main reason she was still trusting of them. "So buttercup how have things been between you and this… Mitch boy?" the professor asked, having been informed by Bubbles and Blossom of the rumour even they were starting to believe, since both the student and Buttercup always left immediately after school now. "What? Urgh… I haven't seen him for two days," she hissed, beginning to grow annoyed from the presumption that the two had gotten together. "Did you two have a fight?" Blossom added as harmless teasing. "No! I'm not even dating him! I'm pretty sure the only reason he even hangs out with me is so he has protection!" Buttercup shouted. She genuinely believed the friendship was nothing more than glorified guarding from the older brothers of people that Mitch made the mistake of bullying, though she had been ignoring him.

"I'm going to bed early…" Buttercup sighed, before floating off, having eaten her dinner fast. She didn't want to tolerate any more of the jokes right now. When she got to her room, she closed the door going over and lying down on her bed, muttering angrily to herself, trying to close her eyes and fall asleep. She hoped they knew not to bother her.

Around one hour after midnight, Buttercup was still slumbering. The night was quiet aside from the sound of crickets trying to break the silence. She heard a tapping noise that made her groan. She stood up, letting her hair stay messy as she staggered to where the noise was coming from. She was planning on just blasting whatever was outside with her heat vision, but upon glancing at her window, she saw the all too familiar floating orange haired boy. "What is it, Brick?" she demanded him to just immediately say what he wanted. If it wasn't important, she was going to make sure he got some form of payback. "Uh… I need your help," he simply claimed, the silence of the crickets taking over again. She felt her eyes glaze over while rubbing her forehead, just walking out of the way and letting him float into her room. "Just be quiet…" she warned while taking a seat at her desk. Brick just took a seat on the bed.

"What is it you need my help with?" Buttercup questioned. Brick took off his red cap. "It's about, Butch, y'see. I can't find him," Brick started. She so far didn't see any real emergency since his brother had superpowers just as strong as his. There wasn't any reason to be worried to her knowledge. "I was trying to follow him when he left tonight, but somehow I lost'em. Butch isn't that good at flying, but he somehow got around me. I just was hoping that maybe you had seen anything?" he queried. She couldn't recall any form of green lights in the sky, but she had been sleeping most of the night. "No, I haven't. Where'd you lose his trail at?" Buttercup answered his question in trade for another question. "The west side of town where all those factories are. But what does it matter?" Brick asked back. This did seem to wake her up more. "Dang it… wait outside. And if you peek into this window before I come out, you aren't going to wake up for a year," she threatened. Brick took her warning seriously, putting his hat back on and flying back outside. He wondered what he had done to make her threaten him like that.

Buttercup came out a few minutes later in a green coat and pants. "Come on. I got an idea where he might be," she pointed to the area where some of the town's factories were. Brick nodded, flying off with her, the two leaving a dark red and light green streak of light behind them respectively as they flew. "Why would butch be at a factory? I know he said he had a job, but I doubt even he can beat enough people up to get hired at one…" Brick wondered aloud, though he could tell that she was thinking it was something more severe than that. "I think his 'job' is at a fight yard," she described as the factories were coming into view at their high speed. "That idiot…" he growled while they landed.

The two had landed in an alley. Buttercup pulled the hood of her coat up over her head to cover her hair. "Is there one part of this town that doesn't have something illegal going on in it?" Brick questioned. Buttercup honestly didn't know how to answer that, though she was favouring 'no', as the two approached one of the factory entrances, where two muscular men were guarding it. "Sorry, but uh, no kids allowed…" the first man stopped them idly. Buttercup cast a glance to Brick. "You know what to do," she told him. Brick nodded and grabbed one of the guard's legs, tossing the whole guard aside, watching him fly through a window. The sound of glass shattering to the ground hit their ears. The other guard was stunned for a moment before Buttercup punched him in the gut hard enough to make him hunch over, and then she punched him in the face. That guard fall down unconscious, and the two just continued inside.

Inside, just as expected, was the sound of people chanting. "And here I thought the dog cages were loud…" Brick commented, not able to see through the crowd. The two just began to muscle their way through, both stopping right at the fence surrounding it. The two went to see inside.


	6. Fight

Buttercup and Brick stopped midway through the crowd, seeing a fence surrounding the center source of the cheering, where they saw a boy with spiky black hair in a green sweatshirt that had random black stripes on parts of it. He was fighting against a muscular opponent. Buttercup could easy recognize the green ruff as Butch. For some reason he looked scratched and bruised. The area he was fighting in had random objects scattered, either meant as weapons or tools to maim someone with. "What is this…?!" Brick silently growled. He knew this was a possibility of what Butch would do as a job, but he wished he had been wrong. Either way, the red ruff was more than ready to break in there just to get a loud roar seared in his sibling's ear. "We can't go causing trouble over this. He'll be fine," the Powerpuff tried to reassure him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He just did his best to stay calm. That look in his eye, though. His red eyes glimmered in a weirdly specific rage like when the powered groups would fight each other.

Butch wound up getting kicked and thrown around like he didn't even try to fight back beyond a few weak punches to his enemy's hand, though at one point he got picked up by his coat and thrown onto a table that had been near the edge of the makeshift arena. His adjusted to the attacker just in time to see that he had gotten ahold of an iron rod, looking ready to beat Butch with it just for the entertainment of the crowd. Buttercup got an idea. She closed one eye to try and focus her heat vision, and she fired it, burning the side of the brute. "OW! What the heck?!" the young ruff looked over to where he seen it come from. His eyes widened, recognizing Brick and the Powerpuff girl. He wanted out of this cage immediately. He quickly kicked his enemy in the stomach, making him drop the weapon before he could really react. Butch had already decided to end it.

The green Rowdyruff had slammed a fist as hard as he could into his leg. The last thing that was heard was a loud cry of agony as the man's leg shattered from the impact, the whole brute collapsing to the ground. The fight was over. The crowd was in a mix of cheering and booing. The battered ruff exited the cage, having won his fight, finding only his brother and the unexpected associate alongside him. "What're you doing here, Brick? And why is she here?" Butch asked, clearly having taken his current anger out on the recently crippled enemy. The crowd was beginning to grow angry, since the fight had appeared very rigged. "We'll talk at home! Come on!" Brick ordered, darting off to the sky with Buttercup and Butch, leaving one dark red, and two green streaks of light behind, wanting to escape the practical riot that was about to explode everywhere in the fight ring.

While flying to the apartment, Buttercup was questioning why she was still following them. She helped find Brick's sibling, and kept him safe, and she was aware the orange haired friend was grateful. The only thing she could think of behind why was because she was interested in how they were going to react, wanting to be there if something went horribly wrong. So far, it just was a quiet flight which then felt unsettling. The unrelenting hostility between brothers was obvious at least. She saw the apartment complex come into view, looking like an eerily abandoned building just left in the ruin of the night, even if it still had multiple people living in it. The group landed. Butch didn't even say anything more before heading inside the home.

Brick let out an exhausted sigh. "Thanks a lot for the help, Buttercup. Looks like I owe you… again," he exclaimed, glad any time he required help or support, she had been there so far. Anyhow, Buttercup couldn't tell if he was happy they had found his brother or not. He was just as lost in his own thoughts as she had lately. "It was nothing… What are you going to do now?" she asked, doubting the two ruffs would forget about tonight so easily. He just adjusted the hat on his head a little to try and come up with an answer. "One of the three things. Either I get an explanation from him, or I get beat up, or he gets beat up," he laid it out, simple as that. If there were no words, there would be fists, though he expected plenty of fists either way. They heard the door creak open again, and they both saw Boomer standing there, still wearing his glasses for some reason, almost like that disguise he wore in the daytime had clung to him.

"What is it now, Boomer?" Brick just demanded. Buttercup was about ready to leave the brothers to the long night of conversation, but what the blue brother said caught her attention more. "We got a letter from dad!" he announced cheerfully, holding the unopened envelope, sounding happier than he ever had in a long time. Apparently Mojo Jojo had sent multiple letters to his sons beyond the one Brick vaporized. "…hand it here," the red ruff commanded, holding his hand out. Buttercup could tell he had intentions to rip the letter open and to shreds. "Isn't it a good thing, Brick?" the blonde boy responded. Buttercup doubted he would find much mercy within his creator, but he had an underlying linger of anger in his voice, that same fiery rage appearing in his eyes again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Brick…" she decided now was the time to leave. She darted off to the sky, leaving a green trail of light behind, thinking checking up on him after school tomorrow would be for the best.

Brick watched his Powerpuff friend leave. He let out a frustrated huff. "No. It isn't good at all, Boomer. Whatever dad wants is probably just trouble," Brick tried to explain while he got angrier more and more by the second. "But what if he wants to apologize? If he does, we can just go back home…" Boomer continued while the two entered the apartment's living room. Butch could be seen lying on the couch, using one of the arm rests as a pillow, still sore from the cage match.

"Can we read it then? Come on. I know it'd make Butch happier!" Boomer continued his point, having already told his black haired sibling of the news. He didn't seem any happier from this though. Brick presumed it was the same reason he wasn't happy over the letter. "I already can tell you what will be on the letter. An apology from him that has fake tear stains on it like he poured his emotions into it! I should know because he's done it for the last forty letters he's sent us!" Brick finally snapped, smacking the letter from his brother's hand. It fell to the floor, Brick panting in anger. "I'm trying to protect you both! You need to accept the fact that dad doesn't even care about us, and that idiot over there needs to try and grow up, instead of letting others beat him up as some kind of stupid punishment!" Brick shouted an insult that hadn't been heard in a long time between the siblings. The word idiot set off some kind of old feeling in the siblings.

"Hey! Who're you calling an idiot?!" Butch rose up in anger. Even if he was sore, he didn't mind the thought of a retort being nothing more than a quick right hook to his orange haired brother's jaw. Boomer was looking at the shredded letter, upset. "Do I need to repeat it again?!" the ruff leader got face to face with his brother, both glaring menacingly at each other. Boomer knew where this was going to end up. "You are an idiot," Brick repeated. And that tore it. Butch lay a big punched in the face, knocking him into his blonde brother. Before they all knew it, the triplets were in a fight, furniture being knocked over and even flying about, and random swears being thrown around along with creaking and crashing noises.


End file.
